Muslim society battles stigma attached to 'madrasahs'
Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, Jakarta
To mention the words Muslim and madrasah today is to watch a chill run down the spines of many people. After all, Muslims from madrasas, or schools of religious learning, are held responsible for the terrible attacks on Manhattan and Washington.
Madrasahs have always existed in Muslim society. During enlightened times, the concept of a madrasah as an institution remained separate from the mosque, and the school was expected to supply state administrators and judges to society.
These days the story is slightly different. Thousands of madrasahs around the world are said to take in children as early as the tender age of six to teach them Arabic and to recite the Koran. Added to the curriculum is the concept of the mujahideen, or holy warrior, whose salvation lies in being ever ready to stand up for the call to jihad, or holy war.
This is why the madrasah has become a breeding ground for a new brand of battle-hardened soldiers prepared to take the lives of others and give their own in the name of Islam.
But when Egypt was one of the most advanced Muslim countries in the world, each town had between one and seven madrasahs teaching Islamic law and theology, and providing the country with all its teachers.
The spirit at a madrasah at that time was to know more. For then it was believed that to know more meant to see further evidence of God. The same can be said of the original concept of the pesantren, or religious boarding schools, found mainly in the rural areas of Indonesia. Here information about spiritual values is included in all teachings, something many feel is ignored by Western education.
Wanting to continue the work done at madrasahs for centuries and to strengthen the bond between local Muslims and Muslims from abroad, including Australia, America and England, the Jakarta International Muslim Society (JIMS) was started in 1998 by Luqman Hakim Landy, an Australian.
At first Luqman was interested in the art and culture of Indonesia, before he converted to Islam and was inspired to work in the field of educating young Muslims, especially in rural areas. His aim remains to put into practice the words of the Prophet Muhammad, who insisted that the search for knowledge is a sacred duty imposed upon every Muslim.
Today JIMS supervises nearly 100 madrasahs, mostly in southern Banten, with 315 teachers educating over 10,000 children. The foundation terms its efforts modest so far, but hopes to expand its program of providing a balanced education to many more Muslims at the grassroots level. Yet another objective is to arouse in Muslim children the spirit of jihad, one of the most misused and frightful concepts of Islam.
Meant to be a constant struggle for justice without kidnapping, killing, placing bombs in public places and committing other evil deeds that go against all decent human behavior, the supreme jihad is described by Prophet Muhammad as one that is first and foremost directed against oneself, against one's own ego, greed and insatiable desires.
It is this jihad that JIMS is teaching to Muslim children in the heartland of West Java.